Young Justice: Heroes United Vol 2
by Elkcubra
Summary: As the new team gathers together a month after the Mechanae Event, a mysterious hero emerges in the shadows. But not everyone trusts him, and Will is determined to get to the bottom of his appearance. Book 2 in the Heroes United Story Arc.
1. Chapter 1

**Date: 04/05/2013**

**Time: 23:00 (11:00 PM)**

Police Sirens, Car Alarms, and Fire Detectors, all coming together like a symphony specifically designed by Mozart himself, all for the sole purpose of driving the inhabitants of the city completely and utterly _insane_. Granted it didn't take much for some.

Unfortunately, while some were able to sleep through it, Will didn't have that option… neither did any of the team now that he thought about it. While most of the city was up and running during the day, Will's team was forced to function at night.

After the team had joined together for that first mission, when they had found Sarah and Will had pounded Josh into the dust (He still felt slightly guilty about that… but only slightly), they had quickly learned that times had changed. Where heroes could work from dawn to midnight before, they were now confined to the mysteries of the night. Of course, when a robbery broke out (or something of the sort) during the day, Will was prone to sneak out and take care of it.

The forces that had defeated the league were running the show now. Not publicly of course, but there had been changes to the police force that showed definite proof of their existence behind the scenes. Now if they could just figure out who they were…

In any case, if they were caught in broad daylight they would be sent to jail for "Unauthorized Vigilantism". Not a preferable option. In addition, several jailbreaks had occurred lately, and the magnitude of the planning (along with the gang leaders suspiciously involved) seemed to suggest that it was not a mere criminal's mind that had orchestrated it.

So, the team went out at night, when the police squads were fewer and escape was easier to come by. Criminals were scattered everywhere, and in order to keep track of all of them, the team was forced to split into pairs. Rachel with Sarah, Kate went solo (impossible to get caught in her animal form, unless someone called the zoo), and Will with Michael. They all knew they needed another member, five wasn't nearly enough, but with the new "Vigilante Acts", crime fighters were hard to come by. Most were scared to use their powers like the team did, and those who weren't ended up being impossible to locate.

On this particular night, Will and Michael were patrolling the east end of town. It was generally the roughest area of town, so both were on full covert mode the entirety of the night. For Will this was simply tapping the insignia on his torso so that the glow vanished from it, but when Mike tapped his armored suit it completely changed its color scheme. Its usual yellow on red became grey on black, perfect for nighttime patrol. It was very impressive actually.

"What do we got?" Mike asked as he approached. Will had gone ahead to scout, giving the signal to approach mere seconds ago.

"Buster class, brute force. Party of eight, minimal range oriented. Crowbars distributed to half the group, the rest look like a ragtag assembly of wood and duct tape."

"Wanna pull the firearm?" Mike asked. Will smiled knowingly in response. The two had grown close over the past month, and multiple tactical maneuvers had presented themselves to the team as of late. This was one of Will's personal favorites, though this was the first chance to put it into action.

Will pulled his gloves up, exposing the web shooters on his wrists. He turned the dial on it clockwise one-quarter of a rotation. He had designed the device with the purpose of being able to fire different types of webbing for different purposes. So far only three of the four slots were filled, the first with normal web fluid, the second with extra sticky compound woven into the strands, useful for clogging up machinery and the like, and the third was about to be put to the test.

"Gladly," he responded, and pulled his gloves back down.

Michael took a position to his right and a little bit ahead, and Will knelt on the roof, aiming directly ahead of the gang members. He nodded to Michael and his partner began a volley of white hot flame into the gang's first exit, and then altered his aim to send a smaller jet toward the opposite end, where the gang was fleeing. Will fired a web straight into the jet of flame and the webbing came out white-hot. It stuck to the final exit and the gang members ran straight into its sticky heat. They cursed and screamed for about three seconds, at which point Will launched a small disc in their direction. It exploded as soon as it was in range, sending a large net of webbing straight at the group, subduing them.

"Nice," Michael congratulated him, and Will gave a smile in return. It was then that he realized Mike couldn't see it through his mask, and nodded thanks in response.

The sun began to rise in the east, and taking it as their cue, the pair left the premises, presumably on their way back to base, wherever it might be.

A shadow flickered above, unbeknownst to the two below. Someone was watching, but what was the purpose, and who was the spy?


	2. Chapter 2

**Date: 04/05/2013**

**Time: 23:50 (11:50 PM)**

Will and Mike took their time getting back to base, stopping a few more crimes as they passed. Well, Will did anyway. Mike was constantly trying to convince him to hurry up. By the time the pair returned, the other three teens on the team were discussing the nights events in the main room.

"Hey guys," Will greeted. "How'd it go?" the other three all looked at him with such confusion on their face that he _knew_ he had missed something important. "What?"

"When did you two leave the east side?" Kate asked.

"Sunrise, maybe 40 minutes ago." Will paused and decided to clarify. "We took our time getting back."

"Did you ever look at a clock on the way back?" Kate prompted.

"No, why?"

"It's only midnight, yet you say you left at sunrise?" She paused a minute, but Will didn't know how to respond, so she continued. "Take a look at this…" the group approached the television and flicked to a news broadcast on channel 8.

"The glow seems to be radiating from the Manhattan Power plant," it began. "Sources are unclear of the cause, but several reports of a humanoid figure inside have been made in the last hour. More to come on this fast breaking story."

"Well, guess we know where we're headed…" Michael said.

"Please tell me we're heading _away_ from the burning power plant?" Rachel asked.

"Why are you afraid? We do stuff like this every night…" Michael inquired.

"Because they converted to Nuclear last week," Will replied sullenly. A look of shock came over his friend's face.

"Isn't that asking for trouble?" Kate asked quizzically. "I mean, Terrorists love New York enough already without a massive bull's eye stuck on the map…"

"Don't ask why. I don't think the workers even know, I'm just relaying the facts," Will stated.

"Well, that humanoid thing they were talking about, it seems to be doing fine…" Michael pointed out.

"Human_oid_, not necessarily human. And I'd bet my life that it has some kind of radiation based power, or heat at the very least. None of us do… The only one who could get close is you Mike and _possibly_ Sarah…"

"Why me?"

"Your suit is armored, unlike ours, and I'm not quite positive what properties Sarah's suit possesses. I don't even know if it can handle heat…"

Mike nodded. It was hard to argue with that logic. It made sense really. But the fact that his friends couldn't be there to back him up was troubling.

"I better head in then. Make sure it's safe." Will only nodded in response to that, before assuring them he would do everything he could to get back up for him as soon as possible.

"I'll run some tests on Sarah's suit, if she's willing. Then I'll get to work on radiation-proofing the suits. Something tells me this won't be the last time we need them."


	3. Chapter 3

**Date: 04/06/2013**

**Time: 00:23 (12:23 AM)**

Michael flew through the air, shooting towards the power plant like a roaring comet, staying in alleyways as much as possible to avoid being sighted. Surging heat flooded around his suit, flames flickering behind him in his wake, yet his armor felt cool against his skin.

He soared faster than he ever had before, attempting to make up for however much time had already been lost. He flew through one of the windows, not even bothering to worry about the reporters that swarmed the area. He touched down and extinguished his flames, not wanting to add to the destruction, and then examined his surroundings.

The building glowed like a supernova as a result of the inferno that infested the interior. He didn't feel any radiation, but then he couldn't really feel the heat either. He hoped that meant he was immune to the rays, or at least resistant. Red emergency sirens flashed throughout the halls, adding to the dizzying luminescence of the disaster. Police sirens and car horns blared outside the plant, and overall it felt like the very foundation was assaulting his senses.

He shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts, and moved cautiously down the hall. He kept going, step after step, but saw nothing. Eventually, he came to a fork in the building. One branched off into darkness, yet the other was shining like molten lava. He stopped to consider the possibilities: Memories of the humanoid figure on the news broadcast stuck out in his mind. It appeared to be glowing on camera, even despite the inferno it was in the midst of. Taking this into account, he headed down the illuminated hallway, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of movement.

He hadn't gone ten feet down the hall when a beam of light shot right at him. He put his hands up defensively, and his armor absorbed the blast, turning white hot momentarily before cooling off once more, but he felt no change in temperature despite the blast. Reacting on instinct, he shot a bolt of flame in the direction of the beam. He noticed it glance off, just as the first beam had with him, and he grimaced. Clearly, power wouldn't aid him here. He steeled himself, and then charged down the hallway after the figure. The man, or whatever it was, took a defensive stance, sidestepping his charge with speed rivaling its flames.

Mike came to a halt, barely maintaining his balance, but wasn't quick enough to block a blow from his heated opponent. He reeled back, but used the momentum to backhand his foe, then palm-heeled him square in the jaw. The man flew back from the impact, but twisted around to land, crouched on the ground. He sprang at Mike, ramming him with the force of a truck. The two tumbled over, and Mike launched a few punches at his foe from the ground. The man rolled away, taking off down the hall. Mike scrambled to his feet and took off after him.

He followed the figure for about a minute before the chase led him to the reactor. He slowed to a stop at the doorway as the man looked back at him. Mike finally got a good look at the apparent cause of this disaster. It appeared to be human, with the exact form of a grown man, but glowed like a furnace across his whole body, his skin the shade of superheated metal. The man, if he could really be called that, gave a slight smirk, then fell backwards, over the balcony and into the pool of glowing, blue radiation.

He cursed under his breath, and then turned around, taking off to search the building for hostages. He searched minutes on end, but found nothing. Approximately fifteen minutes later, he was ready to give up and leave, when he saw a woman down a hallway, along with a figure in black.

"Hey!" he shouted, waving to get their attention. The woman, who he realize was unconscious, did not stir. The shaded figure however, turned to him momentarily, then took off down the hall, half-carrying the woman. Mike glanced over in confusion momentarily before taking off after the pair. He rounded the corner and was immediately greeted by a cloud of smoke, erasing his vision of the area. He coughed a few seconds, and when the smoke cleared, the pair were gone. He looked around a few minutes more, and then he left, shooting out one of the holes created by the flames. He had done everything he could here. However, he was almost certain that he saw the woman lying on a stretcher, being loaded onto an ambulance, with no sign of the figure in black anywhere in the vicinity. He sighed, and soared off to his team, staying out of sight once more.

He was about two minutes as the crow flies (which basically amounted to his route) from the base when he noticed something peculiar on a roof. He touched down behind the building and extinguished his flames. He crouched down and examined the scene before him.

Near the edge of the adjacent building, was a man, binoculars to his eyes, peering right in the direction of the base. He creeped up behind the man, watching him a few seconds more. It was a bit tricky to get onto the adjacent roof without flying, but after that, all his attention was on maintaining complete silence as he made his way to the figure. He managed to get just behind him, when he noticed the man smirking. It was then that he realized: Could this be the man he had seen leaving the power plant?

He pulled his arm back to launch a searing punch at the man, both literally and figuratively, when the man lashed out and grabbed it, twisting it behind him. A fraction of a second later, the man's breath was on his neck, his lips by his ear. His words came out raspy, in a near-whisper despite their seeming isolation.

"If you even consider following me, it will be the last thing you do boy. Now, I'll let you live this once 'Human Flashlight', but I will not extend the same courtesy a second time." The grip released, and Mike turned around instantly. Yet, as soon as he did, he found himself alone on the rooftop. He shook his head in confusion, and then took off, flying home as quick as he could.


End file.
